HOT APPS for HOTS: Tour of Apps

27May

Our Hot Apps for HOTS course is in its final stages of development. In an effort to create an agenda that is not traditional and stuffy, I have highlighted the apps we will cover using one of our HOT APPS for HOTS: Popplet Lite (check out the rest of the HOT Apps for HOTS entries for more detailed lessons and activities). Little Bird Tales and Todays Meet are actually Web 2.0 tools (thus they are indented a bit in the “agenda” to differentiate them from the apps). I included Todays’ Meet to highlight a Web 2.0 tool that works with the iPad to create an instant chat and gain valuable formative feedback from students. While Little Bird Tales does not work with the iPad (flash issues – although they are testing a version that will allow you to export your tale as a mp4 which will work nicely with iTunes), it is a great way to show that not all information and resources must be housed on the iPad.

Below, I have included two of the lessons from a guest chef, Terri Sanchez.

TerriSanchezLessons: tsanch@neisd.net

Popplet Lite: Activity guides students to use Popplet Lite to map nouns (common, proper,singular, plural, and possessive). Popplet Lite-1 (PDF Lesson). Other uses are listed and highlighted as extensions in the Signs of Math lesson.

iBrainstorm: Activity guides students to use iBrainstorm to pre-write/brainstorm for a persuasive essay. iBrainstorm (PDF Lesson). In using iBrainstorm, we encountered one minor glitch: when students try to write with a pen, the dotting the i and crossing the t is read as a double-tap and initiates a new sticky note. To avoid this issue, we recommended using the sticky notes for text and the pen tools only for basic annotations.)

If you like Popplet & iBrainstorm, check out the paid app Corkulous for more functionality.

Check out Jon Baldoni’s article on “Using Stories to Persuade” and consider having students use Puppet Pals in conjunction with Mind-Mapping apps to create a persuasive story.

While these apptivities were not specifically categorized according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, they all involve creating & analyzing. Check out these sites that http://ilearntechnology.com/ has compiled according to the levels of Bloom: